Was Jesus circumcised?
Luke records that eight days after the birth, the child was circumcised and given the name announced before He was conceived. The fact is plain, but it raises a real question: why would One with no sin submit to the sign that marks God's judgment on human flesh?
The Fact, and the Day
Luke reports the event without drama. It happened at the normal time, in the normal way, and the naming went with it.
J. N. DarbyThe child receives the name of Jesus on the day of His circumcision, according to Jewish custom (see Luke 1:59), but according to the counsels and revelations of God, communicated by the angels of His power. Everything was performed according to the law; for historically we find ourselves still in connection with Israel. He who was born of a woman was born under the law.
The setting matters. Joseph and Mary belonged to a small circle of Jews who still loved the law and lived by it.
Truth & TestimonyBrought up in a godly Jewish home, where the law was held to and loved, the child Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day. We are reminded of the words of the apostle Paul here: "…born of woman, born under the law" (Gal. 4:4). How wonderful it is to consider the Son of God becoming so lowly, found in obscure circumstances, and submitting to the law as a godly Israelite. It must be so if redemption is to be found for Jew and Gentile alike.
Nothing in Him to Cut Off
Everywhere else in Scripture, circumcision speaks of the flesh being judged and set aside. That is exactly what could not apply to Him.
Truth & TestimonyWhat we have looked at so far about circumcision refers to the judgment of God on the flesh. How careful we must be when our thoughts turn to Christ. There was nothing in Him that answered to the nature of the flesh; all was holy, perfect and blameless.
So the rite was performed on Him without the reason it exists — and this is not the only time He did that.
F. B. HoleOur Lord was circumcised on the eighth day, according to the law, though there was no sinful flesh in Him to be "put off." This is in keeping with the fact of His baptism at the hands of John, so fulfilling all righteousness, though He had no sins to confess, as the people had.
A Signature on the Whole Law
Circumcision was not a private family ceremony. It bound the person to everything the law required, and He took that on knowingly.
Frederick W. GrantHis circumcision, as the apostle says of it, makes Him "debtor to do the whole law" (Gal. 5:3). "When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons" (Gal. 4:4-5). He pledges Himself to full legal obedience, which for Him is to have no easing. To others He is to be the Source of a grace which for Himself He is never to know.
The Israelite Israel Never Was
Israel carried the sign for centuries while lips, heart, ears and life told a different story. He carried it and matched it.
Truth & TestimonyIt has often been said that the Lord Jesus was, in all His life, what man ought to have been for God. It is equally true to say that He was all that a godly Israelite should have been.
A Second "Circumcision of Christ"
Paul uses the phrase "the circumcision of Christ" in Colossians 2:11 — and writers are careful to say it does not point back to the eighth day.
Truth & TestimonyIn no way do the words in Colossians 2:11 refer to those in Luke 2:21. The phrase "circumcision of Christ" could also be rendered "cutting off of Christ" — words that remind us of familiar verses in Old Testament prophecy. "He was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people" (Isa. 53:8). "And after the sixty-two weeks shall Messiah be cut off and shall have nothing" (Dan. 9:26). These two Scriptures make it clear that Paul's words point to the Lord's death on the cross — the place of judgment, where He was cut off.
That death is what reaches the believer, where the childhood rite never could.
William KellyIt does not refer to the literal act of circumcising, but to Christ's death. When we believe in Christ, we have all the value of His death made true of us. This circumcision replaces all others, which in no way stripped off our evil state as man in the flesh.
Summary
- Fact. He was circumcised on the eighth day, in a home where the law was loved, and named Jesus that same day.
- Not for Himself. The sign speaks of God's judgment on the flesh, and there was nothing in Him that answered to the flesh.
- A debt taken on. Circumcision made Him "debtor to do the whole law" — full obedience, with no easing for Himself.
- The purpose. He came under the law to redeem those under it, so that Jew and Gentile alike could be brought in.
- The real cutting off. "The circumcision of Christ" in Colossians is His death, not His eighth day — and that death, believed, is what strips the flesh from us.